Sunday, October 31, 2010

I saw this story mentioned on Wikipedia and had to track it down and run it in spite of the fact that it's a fiche copy. It's a short, creepy little tale that lives up to its title, written by the prolific Hank Chapman and drawn oddly enough by the definitive 1950's SUPERMAN artist, Wayne Boring! Note that Chapman and his editor, Stan Lee, actually appear in the strip in the manner that William M. Gaines and Al Feldstein sometimes did at EC.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Ever wonder what a romance comic story might look like drawn by STEVE CANYON's Milton Caniff? Well this Harvey story may be the closest you'll ever see to that possibility. I went out on a limb once before and presumed that a Harvey story with Caniff-style art was by Lee Elias who worked for Harvey drawing BLACK CAT for ages and yet it turned out to possibly be by Ray Bailey. Not quite so sure here. Parts of it look like Elias, parts like Bob Powell imitating Caniff with Will Eisner layouts on the splash page. Bottom line though is that whoever it is was working that Caniff style. The blond boyfriend even looks like Steve Canyon!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Fawcett comics weren't selling as well by the early fifties so, slowly but surely, much of the Captain Marvel content gave way to Doctor Death as the company jumped on the horror comics bandwagon. Although a bit long in my opinion, this particular tale, from a 1953 issue of THIS MAGAZINE IS HAUNTED, reminds me vaguely of the FINAL DESTINATION concept.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Here's a fun tale from Quality's ALL-HUMOR COMICS from 1946, drawn and most likely written by the prolific Ernie Hart. Hart worked mostly for Timely and later Marvel, at various times an artist, editor, writer or all three at once. He is credited with creating SUPER RABBIT in the forties as well as doing art on some of the PUSSYCAT stories for Martin Goodman's men's mags of the sixties and writing credits as diverse as ANT-MAN and NICK FURY, AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Before the Two-Gun Kid became a Lone Ranger clone, he was...a singing cowboy! Here, in this early Tw0-Gun Kid story, we see him singing at two different points when he's not busy trying to catch his crooked double. The art here is late period, more simplified than normal work by the ill-fated Joe Maneely, said to have been the favorite artist of Stan Lee, who wrote this script.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

This 1962 MILLIE THE MODEL flashback story deals with Millie's teenage obsession with fashion which makes it a de facto origin story for Millie! Written by Stan Lee and drawn by Stan Goldberg in a style somewhat between the early humor style and the mid-sixties soap opera seriousness of the title, it shows how the character was a lot more fun than just the "girls' comic" to which Marvel relegated it at the company's peak. Lee, of course, went on to be a beloved pop culture icon and Mr. Goldberg continues to turn out some wonderfully fun stories for Archie Comics. Millie ran from the mid-forties to the early seventies and has recently been revived as a part of the Marvel Universe.

Friday, October 22, 2010

For our contribution to FRIGHTFUL FRANKENSTEIN FRIDAY, here's one of Dick Briefer's FRANKENSTEIN stories from the silly period. It's an extra, not included in the new book DICK BRIEFER'S FRANKENSTEIN edited by Craig Yoe but it's a longtime favorite of mine in which the lovable version of the monster meets a caricatured Boris Karloff, the actor most associated with the role OF the monster! Interesting to note that as late as 1947, that was, in fact, the case since he had not actually appeared in a film as the creature since SON OF FRANKENSTEIN seven years earlier. In the meantime, Lugosi, Chaney and Glenn Strange had each played the role onscreen but it was still Karloff the public remembered. In this story the Karload character is mild-mannered, just as the real Boris had been in spite of his Hollywood image. GCD credits Archie writer Ed Goggin as co-writing this story with Briefer. If it looks familiar to you comics blog surfers, it may be that you saw it on COMICRAZYS at one time. Go there today and you can read yet another story featuring Dick Briefer's FRANKENSTEIN! See the full list of participating blogs below!

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First published in 1968 (I was 9!), I have been writing professionally part-time for more than two decades. I have been freelancing for various authors, editors and publishers for the past three years on the behind-the-scenes tasks of writing.